Whether you’re starting from scratch with an empty room or reinventing an existing home office, planning will smooth your way.

Catherine Bailly Dunne, A.S.I.D., author of Interior Designing for All Five Senses (Golden Books, 1998), recommends prioritizing purchases by starting with items of furniture you want or need most and then building around them. And the furniture choices for home offices have never been more varied or exciting.

“Furniture manufacturers recognize that home offices come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and they’re developing products accordingly,” says Jackie Hirschhaut, vice president of the American Furniture Manufacturers Association (AFMA). “Because the category has become so popular and is growing so rapidly, manufacturers are focusing on the home office with abundant new selections.”

Home office workers now have more online tools to help them see office layout ideas in action. Stanley Furniture offers the free, online Office Designer to help you design a home office. Using the dimensions of your office space, you can experiment with different Stanley furniture styles and arrangements. You can try as many layouts as you like, make changes, save your designs and print your plans. Other manufacturer Web sites offer sample views of professionally designed home offices. Still others give you before and after photographs of home office redos.

When planning the layout for your office, go beyond furniture and equipment placement. Also plan space for stylish accessories that add personal flair. Don’t be afraid to incorporate favorite personal things into your professional space. Nowadays you’re likely to see some of these items showing up in home offices:

• Fish aquariums and dog beds

• Lava lamps and candles

• Sound systems and televisions

• Artwork, from paintings to weavings and sculptures

• Globes and mobiles

“The personal spirit of a home workplace is a reflection of its occupant. It’s this personal spirit that stimulates home workers to do their best work,” writes Neal Zimmerman in his book At Work At Home: Design Ideas for Your Home Workplace (Taunton Press, 2001).